Moonspear fight night

The Beta was had become a more-than-adept warrior, as she had learned much of what she knew from her mother and father and others that were willing to teach her. But Hydra also taught herself. She moved through the territory with no other sense but her nose and ears, guided by scent and sound but not sight. Her eyes, both of them, were closed. 

Sometimes, Hydra navigated the mountains this way. More often than not lately she navigated this way. She had taken the eye of one of her enemies and did not forget this. He was a coward, pathetic and small with a belly she visualized as stained, piss-yellow... and cowards were capable of anything. They were the worst sort of all. 

Her muzzle wrinkled as she thought of him, but smoothed as she relaxed herself. If he found ways to compensate without his vision, Hydra would learn his methods, first. Perfect it. Break it down. Her paw swept at a nearby rock and she heard it ricochet off the base of a nearby tree. She continued her walk, ears pricked and twitching, listening for the approach of any of her pack mates. 

hoping for a roll-of-the-die spar! best 2 out of 3 for this one, hy is gonna try to fite with her eyes closed >_>

Gannet had begun once again trekking up and down the mountain, his pace now set at an easy lope, movement restoring one day at a time until sometimes he could even forget he had been injured. He hadn't been sure in the beginning mobility would be restored, but even though he would never be as fast nor as stable as he once was, he had learned to compensate and was nearly if not already once more functional.

Today he had been seeking small prey, hoping to hunt and catch himself something, one of the first on the mountain. But so far he had come across only a couple of birds, and in leaping for them, had fallen short. A few skills he still needed to develop.

Spotting Hydra, however, he veered to greet her, happy for the interruption. He paused in confusion, though, when he saw that her eyes were closed. His ears pricked with curiosity. What was she doing?

It was not the sound (or obviously sight) of him that warned her that he was near, but his scent. And it grew stronger with every step she took until she paused, too, her own ears pricked. Gannet, she greeted, taking tentative steps toward him, using her nose to judge scent strength relative to his nearness. Her tail waved when she thought she felt his furs where his scent seemed to be concentrated the strongest (but for all she knew, it was a treebranch that had caught those furs). 

She grinned. 's this you? I'm working on relying on my eyesight less, she informed him. To become the best warrior, I can't come too dependent on it, I figure, that was one of the thousands of reasons. Her tail waved. Y'wanna spar? she invited, taking some odd steps back.

His tail set to, as per usual, when she greeted him, and he listened as she explained what she was doing. At her request, his brow raised, and he eyed her a little incredulously. "Without looking?" He asked, not sure he'd heard her right. Then he frowned. He wasn't sure he could match her, not so new. "Yeah. Can I look?" He asked, willing to possibly attempt it blind but knowing the risk for him was bigger.

Little odd, but he was always game for a game!

Without looking, she confirmed with a nod. Hydra wanted to see how it felt to fight completely blind and understand it some. And then, she wanted to become an expert. She nodded to his question. Yeah, no problem, she hummed. This was what she wanted to learn, after all. He didn't have to if he didn't want to. 

She took another measured step backwards and her ears pricked forward before she set her defenses. The Beta had measured where he was moments ago and followed this train of thought as she began to move to loosely circle where he had once stood. She nodded to him, inviting him to take the first move.

roll, 1d10 - 9

Ok!! He wasn't sure why she wouldn't want to use her two good eyes, but guessed his own recovery probably would have been quicker if he had hopped around on 3 legs some. Maybe. Yeah nah he wasn't gonna logic it out.

But practice was practice, and he knew he shouldn't underestimate her still. So he dove in fast and immediate, coming around the side in an attempted to shove her off her feet.

Hydra heard him coming, but heard a multitude of other things, too. She did what she could to focus on him, and him alone, though was unable to avoid his blow upon approach. Not fully, anyway. Hydra stumbled due to the pressure of his weight, but sought to keep him close to her—her fangs sought purchase upon whatever was nearest to her. Fighting blind was not an easy feat at all, even with all her instinct and skills. She hadn't any idea how to judge what body part he had hit her with, and where it was she was going to strike. Hydra's fangs really were there to feel out where it was he was in relation to her, what body part could be found... time would tell if she would learn.

4!

9

Lucky for Gannet, his knock had the desired effect, and so when Hydra reached out, he was able to duck and avoid her catching purchase. Her teeth grazed his pelt and he twisted away, only to come back in close with an attempt to wrap a leg over her shoulders and land a few heavy nips. He did not want to draw blood; this was a playful scuffle, to practice evading and landing hits.

also got a 9, in da rp discussion chat!

 

Her teeth caught air, but she was unrelenting. As he returned she was already moving forward, though as he sought purchase above Hydra sought to unbalance him with a rough shouldering. Hydra could not know where her shoulder would land if it did, but she did feel his arm pass over her and nips land upon her ribcage, and had somewhat of an estimation of where he might land should he topple over.

6

Fortunately, he was able to land some blows and get a leg somewhat holding, keeping her from squirming away. Unfortunately, he forgot that this meant he had only two good legs to stand on, and Hydra's form held some of the unstable cards. He was relying too much on her for balance, and when she shoved, he did in fact topple over, some of the wind expelling from his lungs. Not to be undone just yet, he kicked out for her legs, hoping to knock her down with him and level the playing field once more.

2!!! DOWN GOES HY

 

Had she been able to see, she might have been able to avoid what came next as she felt his weight slip—she turned, and he lashed out with a kick, and oof, Hydra took a tumble. He was fortunately there for her chin to land on, else she'd have a mouthful of blood. Laughing, she accepted defeat graciously and with a winsome grin and now-opened eyes. Y'got me this time Gannet, Hydra smirked, moving to land a fond nip on his cheek, tail waving.

He managed to strike her and she went down, her chin landing (rather painfully) on him, but better that than the ground! He winced, then laughed with her, his own almost silent as usual. "Next time," he said, his eyes sparkling with the fun. He was right; even with her eyes closed, she had been skilled. Sometime he would need a lesson eyes open, he was sure he could learn more than a few things from her.

Hopefully, she tacked on. Next time she would practice the same; she wanted to be able to fight so well that she did not need her eyes to succeed. It was interesting, the way her senses seemed to amp up the whole ordeal... but she had a lot to learn, still. I'll find you tomorrow for round two, she decided, if you're down. Her tail beat against the snowy earth, sending the softest of it flying around them.

Would he be down? He couldn't imagine why not! It wasn't as if he had other things that were more important, and Amekaze had told him to practice his sparring. It seemed the ideal; he was obviously not up to snuff and she was working on new difficulties as well.

"Sure!" He said, obviously enthused about the idea. Anything he could do to help her out, and getting some help of his own in the bargain.